Saturday, February 22, 2014

FIRST ALBUM COLLABORATION BY PETER HAMMILL & GARY LUCAS

London,
UK - Esoteric Recordings are delighted to announce the release of the first
album collaboration featuring Peter Hammill, (Van Der Graaf Generator) and Gary
Lucas, (Captain Beefheart, Jeff Buckley) . "OTHER WORLD" (EANTCD
1026) is released on 3rd February 2014. The fourteen track recording is a
result of an invitation from Peter to Gary suggesting they might convene at the
formers studio to see if some musical sparks might fly. Having first met in
Aylesbury after a Hammill solo show in 1973, it was not until January 2012 that
Gary arrived at the studio armed with instruments and some pieces which might
be worth working on. As Peter explains in the notes below, sparks flew and
against the odds, "OTHER WORLD" unfolded with seamless speed. The
majority of the recordings are produced by Peter and Gary's guitars and Peter's
vocal though they are aided by a couple of pieces of found sound and loops.

The duo
are so pleased with the results of the recording that they intend to play live
and dates are being booked for early 2014 and will be announced shortly.

PETER
HAMMILL

When
Gary arrived at my studio in January 2012 we didn't exactly have a grand plan
about what we were about to attempt. He'd told me that he had some pieces which
might be worth working on and that he'd also look forward to creating some
improved sonics to which I might add something. For my part I'd prepared some
looped pieces, some experimental sound washes and I, too, had a couple of
bare-bone song ideas. Fundamentally, though, we probably thought we'd have done
well if we managed to get an EP of some sort out of the session.

From
the first note it became clear that we were on exactly the same wavelength and
the project unfolded with seamless speed. After a couple of days we knew that
we had the makings of the album. Of course, I still had to spend some time
discovering the vocal lines and lyrics which the backing tracks hid within
themselves but that, too, came about with some speed.

We've
ended up, I think, with something quite strange but strangely powerful. The
music ranges from some kind of roots territory to the wildest of sound
collages. All of it - bar a couple of pieces of found sound - is produced by
our guitars and my voice. So far, so trad.

It has,
then, I suppose, some of the characteristics of a warped folk music...from
another world.

GARY
LUCAS

I was a
Teenage Anglophile, particularly partial to psychedelic and progressive sounds
from the UK, Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd, Family, Third Ear Band, The Nice, the
Move, the Incredible String Band, Kevin Coyne, Dr. Strangely Strange. All were
music to my ears then, coming of age as I did in the mid- 60's in the rather
staid and moribund musical climate of Syracuse New York.

I was
such a passionate fan that I subscribed airmail to Disc and Music Echo, ZigZag,
and Melody Maker in order to keep abreast of a UK scene still awash in full
flower power (or so I imagined)...

I sent
away for the latest singles from a UK record shop, rare English vinyl that was
destined never to show up on US shores.

As the
music director of Yale's WYBC in the early 70's I dj'ed a show entitled
"The Sounds from England (and other delicacies)" where I wore the
grooves out of my rare English record collection.

(The
non-English "other delicacies" I spun on my program incidentally were
Can, Amon Duul and ironically enough, Captain Beefheart and Tim Buckley).

One of
my favorite albums in this period I bought solely on the cover art alone in
1969 was Van Der Graaf Generator's"The Aerosol Grey Machine ," a
highly atmospheric and mysterious album which I fell in love and played to
death for my listeners and friends. In 1973, I took my first trip overseas
performing lead electric guitar in the European premiere of Leonard Bernstein's
"Mass" in Vienna with the Yale Symphony Orchestra.

On the
way back home I stopped in London for the very first time, partially because I
had to finally experience it live for myself--and also to hopefully get some
interviews with leading musicians for "Zoo World" magazine, a hip
music newspaper out of Florida attempting to take on "Rolling Stone".

Wandering
into an HMV store on Oxford Street one day after arriving, about to penetrate
the wilds of darkest Soho, I met a fellow enthusiast and rabid Peter Hammill
fan, so much so that he had cut out a chameleon from styrofoam and installed it
in the shop window to promote Peter's new solo album "Chameleon in the
Shadow of Night". He was a huge fan.

He told
me excitedly that Peter was performing a rare solo concert up at the Friar's in
Aylesbury later that week. Ringing my pal ZigZag editor Pete Frame, whom I'd
bonded with in NYC a few months before at a Genesis show, I arranged to come up
to Aylesbury to stay with him for a few days in order to catch this concert.

On the
night, Peter came on solo after a one-off instrumental set by Zox and the Radar
Boys, featuring Phil Collins and Peter Banks and proceeded to blow everyone's
mind with a hypnotic, stark, doom-laden suite of songs featuring his piano,
acoustic guitar and that incredible other-worldly voice.

After
his set I went backstage to interview him, and found him exceedingly nice and
friendly.

In a
season of standout reunion shows I either attended or performed at, including
Cream at Royal Albert Hall, Brian Wilson's "Smile" at Carnegie Hall,
and the reunited Magic Band (of which I was a member) at Hammersmith Odeon,
this particular concert was my absolute favorite.

Peter
was as compelling as ever, his powers undiminished.

Flash
forward another couple years, and through the miracle of the internet we
re-connect and Peter was as keen as I was to collaborate, inviting me up to
Bath, where we spent a couple days recording in his home studio/laboratory.

It was
a total dream for me.

Having
worked closely with many great artists and vocalists, including Don Van Vliet
and Jeff Buckley. Peter is right up there as a great creative partner and
collaborator.